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Transforum 2016 in Dallas, Texas
Practical Studies for Daniels, Deborahs & Pioneers
“Utterly astounding” was Dennis Peacocke’s reaction to Dr. Paul Jehle’s keynote teaching on Daniel. The ability of Scripture and Truth to minister to body, soul, and spirit is one of the most precious realities God creates. The Transforum event gives an excellent opportunity to experience this by hearing very personally. Sometimes this may feel like being able to hearing against ourselves, but much more often it is hearing for ourselves. The title of Dr. Jehle’s teaching was, The Daniel Model: Posturing Ourselves in Exile. Daniel knew what God’s model of liberty was for the Hebrew nation, but he was living in exile, so he postured himself to be useful to God there. Dr. Jehle brought to life Daniel’s history, his amazing faith, and examples left for our benefit, for which he received a standing ovation.
Dennis Peacocke had opened the conference the night before with a focus on the shifting of our socio-economic tectonic plates and the need for seasoned leaders. The teaching on Daniel the following day gave a very personalized example of what this can mean. This theme was further developed when Dennis spoke of the search for “A-level players” in a joint workshop for the schools. His later plenary was on developing skills of both defense and offense in difficult times.
Keynote Speaker, Dr. Lance Wallnau, using the instance in Daniel 2 with King Nebuchadnezzar, encouraged us to seek God as Daniel did and to be a voice that matters in our communities today. His other teaching, Moses, Joseph & Deborah: Mobilizing Prophetic Insight and the Warrior Spirit, became a very personal interaction with those in attendance. Thunder Road will not be forgotten! If you are looking for an answer and opportunity to be effective now, this message has the necessary and specific tactical understanding.
The insights in the plenaries by Dennis Peacocke and Lance Wallnau brought focus and understanding through which to analyze our current public climate as a culture. On Friday night of the conference, the aptly named “Super Panel” discussed the value of looking at the elephant from all angles. Dr. Paul Jehle, Dr. John Kelly, Dr. Joseph Mattera, Dr. Roberto Miranda, and Dr. Lance Wallnau let us in on their matured discussion of many points of importance.
The Transforum also served as a kick-off for the GoStrategic schools: Strategic Life Training and the Business Leadership School. With the conference’s dynamic keynote sessions, special discussion groups, and focused workshops, it is an empowering start to the school year. Saturday evening was the school graduation banquet, the celebration of the culmination of our graduating students’ two years of study. Many friends and family were in attendance, having witnessed the changes in their loved ones’ lives throughout the transformational course. It is a real achievement to graduate. It is not a participation award!
School enrollment is still open for classes beginning in May. If you are interested in registering for the current session, please visit the SLT or BLS website, or contact info@gostrategic.org for more information. (Please note, SLT offers an additional start-date in the fall.)
Also running concurrently at the Transforum, The Statesmen Project hosted an international City Action Council Summit with the leaders of 15 different cities from the US and Canada. These 15 cities have groups who are serving their communities by mobilizing the private sector to work in concert with elected officials and civil servants for the common good. Reports of what is already happening in their cities were awesome to hear! They ranged from multiple forms of serving the poor with food, housing, medical, and psychological needs, to youth work, employment training, and economic development. These many forms of social service help close the gap between the real needs of people and limited budgets. The formation of a coalition between these cities was enthusiastically agreed upon. They are connecting communications to maximize the synergism of their combined experience to increase the effectiveness of their services, as well as inviting others to unite and participate. The Statesman Project is committed to consulting, synergism, and the strengthening of social safety nets between the private and public sectors. The meetings in Dallas took this vision to a new level of practical reality in demonstrations of Christ’s love and, thus, creating a demonstrable opportunity to present His saving grace.
This truly is a time to be salt in the world. There was encouragement to find your calling and stay in it. We were also reminded to be cunning as serpents and harmless as a doves (Matthew 10:16). As each of us finds our place on the team, may we bear witness in many ways, including the love we have for one another (John 13:35).
Transforum Recordings Just Released!
Whether you missed the Transforum, can’t wait to hear the sessions again, or want to share them with friends, the conference recordings referenced in the article are now available for purchase in the GoStrategic store:
Main Sessions | BLS Workshops | SLT Workshops
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Foundations of Government
To be good citizens, we have a fundamental need to understand the nature of government and the choice of principles by which we can be governed. This election year, it is so clear that the knowledge of the function of government, consequences of specific choices, and the current rules of the game are all rare knowledge.
The essence of government is control of human action in a particular environment. Who controls what and to what purpose. The diagram below is to help visualize the different areas of government. The very first expression of government for an individual is self-government. The next level, family government, is described in the sixth commandment to honor our father and mother. This is why the health of the family determines the health of the society. The bridge between family government and the truly public arenas is the provision of moral and ethical government that comes through religious belief, hence, church government. The United States grew as a nation with commonly held Judeo-Christian values. This was so clearly the law base for western European societies that it was carved in stone, not only in churches, but on most public buildings until late in the twentieth century. The expression, “it’s just common sense” spoke to the commonality of ethical and moral opinions. Without an ethical base, there comes anarchy and chaos, then tyranny. This fact is well demonstrated in history.
These three, self, family and church, are the governments that provide the foundation for human action. Between church and state, there is a vast area of communal and public actions that involve government for our practical lives. Here we find the “Mountains of Influence.” Within these areas are a variety of organizations with governance over what they influence. This phenomena is known as voluntary associations. The United States of America historically developed through these voluntary associations to an amazing extent. This phenomena of the voluntary association has been noted from French political thinker, de Tocqueville, to the present time, as what allows so much creativity of thought and freedom of action in our public arena compared to the bureaucratic morass, or tyranny governing most of the nations of the world. Next time we will look at the “voluntary association” and how it has undergirded the uniqueness of the United States of America.
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We would appreciate your prayers…
* For Dennis in the writing of his next book, Tending Your Garden.
* For The Statesmen Project to strategically grow in its mission to disciple nations.
* For the inaugural Strategic Life Training students in Singapore and the future SLT Facilitators for that region.
* For more supporters in our financial base to enable the growth of our work.
Thank you for your faithful prayer & support!
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You are invited to The Statesmen Project’s first open-invite event!
September 15-17, 2016 | Sojourn Church in Dallas, Texas
The Statesmen Project is an international movement of concerned citizens responding to the growing economic and social crises with practical Biblical principles and models that solve specific community and national problems. For more information, please visit: www.thestatesmenproject.org